Ship protection



` Patented yJune 26, 19745 M UNITED` STATES PATENT OFFICE SHIP PROTECTION Y liucius E. Whiton, New London, Conn. Application March 18, 1941, Serial No. 383,953

(Cl. 114-240) n 7 Claims.

My invention relates .primarily to means for yprotecting ashipfrom the effect of torpedo atv tack and in its complete form `contemplates also protection from aerial bombs or torpedoes.

rExpressed in its simplest form the protection -against lateral attack contemplates the provision of acellular structure having vertically disposed passages, the side and top,v walls'of which are ,frangible The upper surface of the protectivedevice isalso provided with a movable .Cif-Wurf For protection against aerial attack I provide a series .of overhead net structures preferably consisting of two or three layers, all of which are resiliently supported and preferably increasing in resistance from the .upper net to the lower. All of the air attack defensive structures may be so formed as to permit them to be attached or detached or moved out of the way when desired.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a ship with protective armor involving one form of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side View of the same. Fig. 3, is a bow view of the same showing overhead bomb proong. Fig. 4 is a plan View of a section of protective armor.

`Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional View showing a method of mounting the armor.

Fig. 6 is a view of the inner face of the armor. In the drawing,` I have shown the invention f diagrammatically where the hull I of the ship is provided with lateral armor II along such parts of the sides of the ship as it may be found desirable. vThiscellular structure may be made up in vertically lremovable sections IIa, IIb, each of which has a plurality of vertical passages I2, I2 closed at I3 at the bottom and having anlinner closure I4 and an outer' closure I at the top.

It is an important feature of the plan that the construction should provide for the use of groups of vertically removable units so that if a section of the defense is damaged by an attack, this section can be removed upwardly as at IIa in I Fig. 2 and replaced.

The vertical edges or sides of the units may be, in effect, groovedlike machined planks or sheet piles as shownin Fig. 4 where there are f ve rows of cells with eight cells in each.

These cells may be constructed in any suitable manner but preferably the material is of a frangibleor brittle nature such as hard cast iron or cast glass which can be readily formed when hot to suitthe shape of the sides of the ship. Closure I4 is also readily frangible and the cover I5 is preferably retractable, for instance by being hinged at I6. It is also preferably provided with an overlapping flange I'I which extends slightly above the outer edge of the cellular structure and serves to protect the same against breakage under normal conditions.

This cellular` structure may be secured by a number of bolts or other fastening devices I8 and also by fastening devices I9 under the lower The back plate 2I of the cellular structure is c preferably formed of steel and serves to reinforce the cellular structure and also to reinforce the side of the ship.

In case the protective armor is extended to include the ship design, it should in plan be composed of straight lines, inscribed within an outline comparable to the curvature of an airfoil. These straight line outlines would then afford a baseto support the cellular structure and the ship would be completely enclosed within a stockade composed of vertically removable units of air cells to the fulldraft of the ship.

A feature for protection against aerial bombs consists of a series of overhead nets such as 30, 3|, 32 and 33 supported by rods or masts 34, each of the nets preferably being under spring tension. The upper net should be under relatively light spring tension. -The next lower would be under a greater tension. and each succeeding lower net under increasingly greater spring tension. The lower protective member 33 might in fact be of impervious sheet metal to divert bomb fragments after the explosion. The intent is that the bomb should explode upon contact with one of the upper nets so that only the fragments would be sprayed against the lower layers. f

These protection layers should all be capable of being moved or removed either by vertical or horizontal hinging of parts in such a way as to permit access to hatchways or equipment on the ship.

The general intent of this invention is for the protection of cargo carryngshps rather than naval vessels although the invention broadly is applicable to any ship.

I claim:

1. A ship including a hull and armor Astructure around the sides of said hull having an inner metal Wall, an outer wall spaced from said inner wall, removable vertical flue members of frangible material in the space between said walls and a retractable slanting metal cover hinged to said inner wall and vextending over the top ends of said flue members.

2. A ship comprising a hull and a protective armor surrounding said hull consisting of a reinforcing.. plate on the outer vertical wall of the hull forming an inner wall for the armor, another plate spaced outwardly from said first plate forming an outer wall, a bottom wall connecting said inner and outer walls, removable sections of y vertical tlues of frangible material in the space between said inner and outer walls and a frangible cover Aforsaid flues.

3.` A ship comprising a hulland aprotective armor surrounding said hull consisting of a vreinforcing plate on the outer vertical wall of the hull forming an vinner wall for lthe`armor, another plate spaced from saidfirst plate forming an outer wall, a bottom Wall connecting 'said inner and outer walls, removable sections ofvertical llues of frangible material in the space between said inner and outer walls and a. frangible cover for said flues,y the nues of each section `being separately removable. i

4. A ship comprising a hull anda protective armor surrounding said hull consisting of a steel reinforcing' plate on the outer vertical wall of the hull forming an inner wall for the armor, another plate spaced from said rst plate forming an outer wall, a bottom wall integral With said outer wall, sections of vertical flues of frangible material in the space between said inner and outer walls, the flues of each section being separately removable, a frangible cover for said flues and a retractable steel cover over said frangible cover.

5. As an article .of manufacture, a ships armor section formed of glass and having a plurality of vertical cells closed at the top and bottom by walls, the top closure wall being frangible to allow escape of gas vertically when a torpedo is @Xploded against the side of the section.

'6.A ship comprising a hull and a protective armor surrounding said hull, consisting of a. series of Vsteel reenforcing plates on the outer vertical wallv of the hull, an armor section composed of enclosed vertical -flues of -frang'ible `material supported byeach plate and a hinged non-frangible cover for said nues. Y

'7. A ship comprising la hull and a protective armor surrounding said 4hull, consisting of a series of steel reenforcing vplates on the-cuter vertical wall of the hull, an armor section composed of enclosed vertical-fluesvof frangible material supported by each plate and a =liinged non-frangible cover for said'flues, the individualfsections of the said protective armor being separately removable.

LUGIUS E. WHITON. 

